Bias Claims for Insurers in Coverage of H.I.V. (NY Times)

Bias Claims for Insurers in Coverage of H.I.V.

By Katie Thomas, MAY 29, 2014

Health care advocates said on Thursday that four insurers offering plans in the new federal marketplace discriminated against people with H.I.V. or AIDS by requiring them to pay high out-of-pocket costs for drugs to treat H.I.V., including generic medications.

Two groups, the AIDS Institute and the National Health Law Program, filed a complaint on Thursday with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights, saying the insurers had violated a provision in the new health care law that prohibits discriminating against consumers because of their medical conditions. They said the insurers had subjected people infected with H.I.V. to restrictions on medications that most patients take daily to keep the virus in check.

“This practice has no rational reason other than to drive people with H.I.V. and AIDS away from their plans,” Wayne Turner, a staff lawyer with the National Health Law Program, said in a conference call with reporters.

The complaint asserts that the four insurers — CoventryOne, Cigna, Humana and Preferred Medical Plan — placed H.I.V. drugs on the highest payment tier for midlevel, or silver, plans on the federal health insurance exchange in Florida.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/30/business/four-insurers-accused-of-discriminating-against-people-with-hiv.html?ref=health&_r=0